n light of the frequency and magnitude of recent
natural disasters, and in line with the Hyderabad Action Plan adopted by the
World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2010 (WTDC-10), the Ministry
of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) Japan and ITU are jointly
organizing a Symposium on Disaster Communicationson16 March 2012 in Sendai City, at the Sendai International
Center(http://www.sira.or.jp/icenter/english/index.html and www.itu.int/itu-d/emergencytelecoms/events.html)

The event will focus on the application of
telecommunications/ICTs for the purpose of disaster preparedness, mitigation,
response and recovery. Lessons will be mainly drawn from Japan that is currently
involved in recovery efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11
March, 2011. The one-day symposium will be followed by an excursion around
Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, one of the affected areas.

The symposium will be held back-to-back with
Rapporteur Group meetings forQuestions 22-1/2, 10-3/2, 11-3/2, 25/2 (15
March-21 March 2012). For the full description of each Study Questions, please
visit:
http://www.itu.int/net3/ITU-D/stg/index.aspx

ITU
and the Government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg have agreed to cooperate on
strengthening emergency telecommunications and rapid response in the event of
natural disasters. ITU and Luxembourg are members of the Emergency
Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), comprising of UN agencies and other
humanitarian partners.

The Government of Luxembourg has developed a nomadic satellite-based
telecommunication system – ‘emergency.lu’ – aimed at assisting humanitarian
agencies respond to communities affected by natural disasters, conflicts or
protracted crises. This platform will be available as a global public good to
the international humanitarian community as of 1 January 2012, with Luxembourg
funding its development, implementation, operation and maintenance to the tune
of € 17.2 million.

Under the umbrella of the “ITU Framework for Cooperation in Emergencies” (IFCE),
ITU will encourage its 193 Member States to use the ‘emergency.lu’ platform and
facilitate the rapid deployment of emergency telecommunication systems in the
event of a sudden-onset disaster, or a longer-term deployment in chronic or
recurrent humanitarian contexts or as part of a preparedness strategy in
developing countries. ITU will negotiate appropriate regulatory and legal
frameworks with Administrations, particularly Telecommunications Regulatory
Authorities, to assist in the deployment. IFCE is an ITU communications
initiative to assist the humanitarian community in disaster response. IFCE and
emergency.lu will be jointly and individually deployed within two hours of
notification using every possible means, including custom-fitted aircraft,
depending on the nature and magnitude of the disaster. Click
here to read more.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) jointly with PORTRAZ a
Multi-stakeholder workshop on the use of Telecommunications/ICT for
Disaster Management: Saving Lives that took place in Harare, Zimbabwe,
28-30 November 2011. The purpose of this event was to bring together
the main stakeholders active in the dissemination of ICTs and their use
for disaster mitigation, and to serve as a forum in which they can map
out concrete strategies and adopt practical measures aimed at giving
ICTs a central role to play in disaster prevention and management, i.e. early warning, preparedness, relief and response.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) participated in the
five-day workshop - “Emergency Communications, Climate Change, E-Waste
and Cyber Security Awareness Workshop” organized by the Zambia ICT
Authority (ZICTA). The event was held in Lusaka, Zambia from 28
November to 02 December 2011.

The Forum brought together country representatives,
international organizations, civil protection and enforcement agencies,
academic institutions and other stakeholders involved in disaster
management, envionment, regulation, cybercrime and cybersecurity to
discuss the role of telecommunications/ICTs in improving lives. The
Forum’s main goal was to sensitize the stakeholders in Zambia in
relation to topics covered during the five day workshop.

The event raised many important issues, including:

Role of telecommunications/ICTs in disaster management
Tampere Convention, the importance of its ratification
National Emergency Telecommunications Plan, Early Warning System
Country experiences in disaster management
Cybercrime and Cybersecurity
ICT Regulation and Enablement
e-Waste Management and Environment
Climate Change Adaptation and ICTs

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will actively participate
at the second forum on standardization . The theme of the Forum -
“Saving Lives through Emergency Telecommunications” is organized by
the Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ATCI). The event
will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 16-18 November 2011.

The Forum will bring together country representatives,
international organizations, civil protection agencies, academic
institutions and other stakeholders involved in disaster management to
discuss the role of telecommunications/ICTs in saving lives.

The event will raise some important issues, among others as:

Role of telecommunications/ICTs in disaster management

Tampere Convention, the importance of its ratification

National Emergency Telecommunications Plan

Country experiences in disaster management

The event will be conducted in French.

Should you have any questions regarding the organization of the seminar or need any further information, please contact:

When it comes to disaster management, there are quite a few aid organizations around the world who arrive quickly to the spot to help with whatever help required starting from food, to medicines and even ICT.

But Japan’s worst earthquake in decades that is leading to a nuclear crisis as well has raised a peculiar problem. How do international agencies reach with aid, particularly technology aid, when a disaster has the potential to endanger the lives of the helpers who are not locals?

In Japan for instance, Télécoms San Frontières (TSF) -- or Telecom Without Borders -- the France-based NGO that specializes in setting up emergency telecommunications in disaster hit areas around the world, was one of the first international aid agencies to reach Japan for setting up an emergency telecommunication network in the affected areas.

But when Japan’s beleaguered nuclear power plants started spewing out nuclear radiation, TSF had to hastily retreat. According to TSF, concerned by the threat its staff faced due to the radiation hazard, TSF was forced to pull out yesterday; with bag, equipments and baggage, so to speak.

One organization that was able to tackle this eventuality smartly was UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU too dispatched its emergency telecommunications equipment to areas severely affected by the tsunami within 24 hours of Friday’s devastating earthquake.

But instead of sending its own people, it sent its equipment with detailed and lucidly composed instruction manuals so that the local agencies operating on spot could deploy them easily.

Geneva, 1 November 2010 - ITU has deployed a hybrid of 40 broadband satellite terminals in an effort to restore vital communication links in the aftermath of a tsunami triggered by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and a volcanic eruption that hit the Indonesian archipelago in two separate incidents.

As aid and rescue workers battle rough weather and difficult terrain to reach tsunami victims in the remote Mentawi islands off Sumatra, Mount Merapi continues to spew super-heated gas and debris on villages in Central Java. The natural disasters have wreaked havoc, causing untold death and destruction in their wake.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré expressed his solidarity with the people of Indonesia and offered his condolences to the bereaved victims of the disaster. “The loss of life and destruction of property as a result of two natural disasters is a matter of deep concern and I offer my heartfelt condolences to the victims and to the people of Indonesia,” Dr Touré said. “ITU will do its utmost to provide assistance to people in the disaster-affected areas by re-establishing telecommunication links which will be vital in the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the days ahead.”

Pakistan is flooding. People are dying and being displaced. Food aid distribution is lagging. But can they make phone calls?

An unusual question, perhaps. But a crucial one, nonetheless.

You see, the United Nations has a division -- the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) -- that is responsible for rushing into disaster zones to help resurrect vital telecom infrastructure that has been destroyed. Why is that important?

We're not talking about allowing people to engage in idle gossip at steep monthly rates.

We're talking about cellphone towers losing electricity or falling into crevices, about shifting tectonic plates rupturing fixed-line phone service, about rooftop antennas in crowded urban areas collapsing into rubble, about flood waters shutting down power generators to various parts of a mobile network.

Without any of this, government agencies can't distribute all the aid your donations have provided, can't co-ordinate with humanitarian agencies to figure out where the need for medical services is the greatest and can't, in short, respond to the crisis properly.

For citizens, it's even more frightening. During the Haiti earthquake, as with many disasters, family members didn't know whether their loved ones were alive. People were texting SOS messages from beneath the rubble -- and having their text messages join a long queue created by the strained wireless networks (a data backlog situation that also happened, if you recall, when Sidney Crosby scored his momentous goal for Team Canada). That's why there's other groups, as well, such as Télécoms Sans Frontières.

3 February 2010 – Three weeks after the earthquake in Haiti, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations’ oldest agency, is still trying to re-establish reliable telephone and internet connections in the country, but also has long-term plans to help build state-of-the-art telecommunication networks there.

“We are working with the Haitian Government and operators to put in place telecommunication infrastructure that could be used for efficient and effective disaster management and for the general socio-economic development of the country,” Cosmas Zavazava, Chief of Emergency Telecommunications at the ITU, told the UN News Centre.

“Our aim is to help Haiti mobilize and deploy different kinds of technologies to mitigate the impacts of disasters. Reliable telecommunication systems can be complemented with remote sensing and GIS [geographic information systems] technology. In disaster management, a hybrid of these technologies is important,” Mr. Zavazava added.

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